The announcement was made after Indian business tycoon and Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, met with a government delegation from the Republic of Estonia comprising of Urve Palo, minister of entrepreneurship and IT, Viljar Lubi, deputy secretary general for economic development and Riho Kruuv, ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to India. Ambani, well aware of the advancements made by Estonia in the field of e-governance and ICT, has expressed his desire to collaborate with the country to develop better e-governance solutions for India. He envisages making lives better for millions of India by replicating innovative solutions offered by Estonia into the Indian context.

Ambani, also expressed his interest in e-residency program which will empower him with easy access to entire European Union for his existing business while sitting in India. According to him, e-Residency is the gateway to do business in Europe. Taking ease of business to new heights, Estonia became the first country in the world to come up with e-Residency program. It offers startups access to a government-issued digital ID, thus enabling the opening of a global EU company fully online while working from anywhere in the world.

“You have made so much progress in such a short time. We wish to learn from your experience, so that we can make lives of ordinary Indians better. We believe your solutions are easily scalable to India. We wish to have a very close cooperation with your talent in Estonia.” Said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries.

“The Estonian government as well as our enterprises are very much interested in collaborating with Indian companies. It is a great honour to recognize that the interest is mutual,” said Urve Palo, Estonian Minister of Entrepreneurship and IT. “Mr Ambani can now benefit from the opportunities of the Estonian e-residency status, which allows him to start new ventures in the European Union more easily – all via the Estonian easy-to-use and trustworthy systems online.”

Estonia is probably the only country in the world where 99 percent of the public services are available online 24/7. Thanks to a safe, convenient and flexible digital ecosystem, Estonia has reached an unprecedented level of transparency in governance and built broad trust in its digital society. As a result, Estonia saves over 800 years of working time annually and has become a hassle-free environment for business and entrepreneurship.

Estonia is the first country in the world to offer e-residency, a government-issued digital ID available to anyone in the world. It offers the freedom for every world citizen to open and run a global EU company fully online from anywhere. e-residents have access to the European Union business environment and can use public e-services through their digital identity.